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When President Donald Trump entered his vehicle, surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents, in the moments following his attempted assassination at his Butler, Pennsylvania, campaign rally one year ago, the crowd traded their “USA” chants for expletives as they directed their anger toward the media gathered on the press riser.
Veteran political reporter Salena Zito spoke with Fox News Digital ahead of the release of her new book, “Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America’s Heartland.” Zito found herself inside the Secret Service’s secure perimeter, just steps away from Trump, when a gunman unleashed gunfire on the crowd, one year ago.
“It wasn’t directed at the press,” Zito said of the impassioned Trump supporters who turned to face the media once Trump was out of sight. “It was directed at the cameras, letting the country know that this is unacceptable, and our country is in peril, and we need to be strong about it.”
Zito, who has built her career telling real stories from the American heartland, said she spoke with the Trump supporters who can be seen shouting at the camera in the video played around the world.
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“They confirmed that. They said, ‘We weren’t blaming the press. We were blaming everything that led to this in our country, and we were mad about that, and we wanted to show defiance to that,'” Zito said.
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Fox News confirmed ahead of the one-year anniversary of Trump’s first attempted assassination that six Secret Service agents were suspended without pay after 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire at Trump during a rally in western Pennsylvania last summer.
Supervisors and line-level agents were suspended in February, ranging from 10 to 42 days without pay, the Secret Service confirmed to Fox News.
Speaking with Fox News Digital following initial reports about the agents’ suspension, Zito said it was “well warranted” for those making logistical decisions to be suspended.
“I will say unequivocally that the men and women that were taking care of President Trump that day, that were in his detail and in that buffer, were on top of everything,” Zito said. “Those men and women were doing their jobs right when they put themselves in the line of fire.”
Zito, who refused to get down when she first heard the shots, said Trump was “surrounded in a sea of blue.”
“They put him in a protective stance, and they put their lives on the line,” Zito said. “Nothing should be taken away from that bravery in that moment. Those field officers were heroes that day.”
Trump recovered from his near assassination with little more than a bullet graze to the ear, thanks to the immigration chart he was turning his head to face. One rally attendee, firefighter Corey Comperatore, was killed, and two others were critically injured by Crooks’ gunshots.
In the moments following the gunfire, Zito said what she saw next was “really quite remarkable.”
“People left there pretty orderly. There wasn’t a rush. There wasn’t a stampede. You saw the medics taking care of the people that had fallen [or] were injured. But you mostly saw people getting each other out and across the field,” Zito explained.
Zito said it was “amazing” to see “how orderly people left.” An hour later, when she returned to the large parking lot, they hadn’t let one car go, so there were thousands of Trump supporters gathered together.
“These people are out of their cars, they’re sharing water, they’re hugging each other, they’re making sure they’re okay, they’re sharing food. They’re just talking. I really was struck by their comportment in that moment,” Zito said.
Zito’s book takes readers back to July 13, 2024, when she was mere steps away from Trump when shots were fired. She is a political reporter for the Washington Examiner, a special contributor for the Washington Post and has been a columnist for the New York Post.
